Dutch Sister Church Teams with Latvians to Reach Out to 430 Needy Homes in Ergli and Madona

By Dan Roth, BBI Missionary to Latvia

    ERGLI, Latvia – The week of February 15 saw the sixth annual Dutch-Latvian outreach in Madona and Ergli.  "Wilhelminakerk" Dutch Reformed Church in Haarlem, the Netherlands, partners with Madona Baptist church to reach out to the needy with God's love.  This year 7 men and 2 women took a week of their annual vacation time to serve their Lord and the poor in cold and snowy Latvia. The Latvian economic crisis coupled with the most severe winter in 68 years has left many families without enough to eat.

The Dutch church collected €8,000 ($10,800) for food and put together

450 food packs. In addition, the church sent a truck load of humanitarian aid, 40 cubic meters, to be distributed at Madona's church.  

    Teams with Christians from both churches went to visit homes, give food parcels, offer prayer and hope and an invitation to the church to receive the clothes and household goods that were sent from Holland.  Each family was also invited to special Sunday services in Madona and Ergli.  Most people responded positively, thankful that they hadn't been forgotten in these difficult times. There were tears, kisses, offers to come along and help and even some donations for other needy people.

    Henk Bolt, leader of the Dutch team says, “We all feel very much blessed that we have been able to participate in this outreach together with our brothers & sisters in Latvia, and that we had

the opportunity to serve our Lord by jointly showing His love and mercy for so many needy people.”

    BBI missionary, Katie Roth recalls, “One of the things that greatly rejoiced my heart was the participation of some local young men who have very recently started attending church in Ergli, but who have not yet committed themselves to following Jesus.  These young men are unemployed and thus had time available to spend on the project. They truly threw themselves into it, participating in all parts of the ministry, from assembling food packages to sorting and distributing humanitarian aid.

    “One of their most valuable contributions was their knowledge of the local area and population. I went out to a village near Ergli, with a young man who had grown up in that village. He knew exactly where each person on our list lived and in many cases called

ahead to make sure the people were at home. The last house we visited was out in the middle of nowhere and we had to trek through the snow on foot because the car couldn't go any further. An 85 year old lady lived there all alone, in the house where she had been born. She had two cows, that she milked herself, and she offered us home made cake and glasses of milk. When our local guide went outside to make a phone call, she told us about how she had watched him grow up and seen him drop out of school and fall into an unproductive lifestyle that caused his mother a lot of grief and worry. How glad I was that on this occasion he had an opportunity to make a positive contribution to his community and start to form relationships with Christians in a setting where he was accepted and valued.”

    A key factor in the outreach took place before the Dutch team arrived in Latvia. Latvian church leaders approached the city welfare departments of both cities, Ergli and Madona, and asked them to provide the names and addresses of the families who they know are living before the poverty line and need the most help. The cities provided a list of 430 homes. All of the homes were visited during that one week.

    But the impact lives on. The Sunday after the outreach, many came to the worship service in Ergli. The same thing happened in Madona, which is about a half hour drive from Ergli. Both cities are about two hours east of Riga.  BBI missionary and pastor, Dustin Peterson reports that two weeks after the outreach in Madona, 15 new people came to church for the first time including two young people, a family, a couple of ladies, several middle aged men and two seniors. 

    To ensure that this ministry to the needy will continue, the Madona church will give out 100 smaller food packages each month, providing assistance to about 40 families. These parcels come from a German charity and are distributed from the Raven’s Fund in Riga.

    Another outreach project is planned for April when friends from another sister church, King’s Arms Church of Beford, England, will partner with the local Latvians to re-visit each of the homes in Ergli with more food packages, offers to pray and invitations to come to the Lord.

    Fewer more powerful models of sharing God’s love can

be found...anywhere.